Notes differences in academic performance, discipline, participation based on race, income in Burlington district

Apr. 3, 2013

Written by

Free Press Staff Writer

A new report documents large differences in academic performance, course participation and discipline actions by race and income in the Burlington School District.

The Equity and Inclusion Report released this week also found only slight progress has been made toward district goals to recruit more teachers of color. In a school system where 30 percent of students are non-white, just 4.4 percent of teachers look like them.

The first annual study, using data from the 2011-2012 school year, was long awaited and comes in response to protests and community meetings last year about inequities around race, income and immigrant/refugee status.

The hope is that by establishing solid baseline data, the district can move forward on goals to eliminate demographic factors as predictors of academic achievement, discipline actions and participation in school. The report will be issued each year.

“It’s really about making sure that all of our students are achieving because that’s what we’re in business for,” said Jeanne Collins, superintendent of Burlington Schools.

The report studied kindergarten to 12th-grade enrollment totaling 3,504 students as of Dec. 1, 2011. About 71 percent of students were white, 13 percent were black or African American, nine percent were Asian, four percent were two or more races, three percent were Hispanic of Latino.

About 14 percent of students in the district received English as a second language instruction.

The role of poverty and English as a second language

There are subtleties in the trends but one factor stood out: Almost all the under performing groups posted higher than average rates of poverty. That’s consistent with national trends.

“The academic achievement gap is not as simple as academics,” Collins said. “It really goes back again to children in poverty. Research shows that children in poverty enter school behind the eight ball.”

Early childhood education programs that target at-risk children and new opportunities to help students catch up in school are important, Collins said. She cited the proposed Vision Calendar as a way to increase remediation for struggling students. The calendar would implement a seven-weeks on, two weeks off model starting in the 2014-2015 school year if approved by regional superintendents and their local school boards. Students who are falling behind would be asked to attend catch-up sessions during the two-week breaks.

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The extra round of instruction could help students promptly rather than waiting for summer school and a problem that has ballooned, Collins said.

“In the Vision Calendar you could give that double dose every seven weeks.”

Academic outcomes differ in many ways, the report shows. Scores tended to be lower among low-income students and English language learners — many of whom are recent immigrants or refugees from around the world.

Boys lagged behind girls in many academic areas, with the exception of high school math, where boys tend to outperform girls on standardized tests — but often not by much.

For example, 79 percent of 11th grade girls scored proficient or higher in reading on the New England Common Assessment Program, compared to 62 percent of boys. Girls outperformed boys in math at the elementary and middle school level but were slightly below boys at the high school level. Girls graduated at a higher rate.

Results vary dramatically

Burlington’s student body profile is unusual in a nation where many public school systems are heavily segregated along socioeconomic lines. The Burlington district has the relatively high poverty rate of an urban school system — about 51 percent qualify for free and reduced lunch — but children of doctors, lawyers and professors also attend the city’s nine public schools.

Results can vary dramatically even when children have been in the same schools for 13 years. Some graduates go on to elite colleges, others find they need to take expensive remedial courses at open enrollment colleges. And while some refugee students are landing college scholarships and living the American Dream, others are graduating functionally illiterate according to a group of New American parents who want more rigor.

At the elementary, middle and high school level, at least 90 percent of students not receiving free and reduced lunch scored at or above proficiency in reading on the NECAP. Rates for low-income students were about half that. There was also a large achievement gap in math.

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Trends by race varied. Looking at students who were not receiving English language learner services, Asian students performed best, followed by white students. Black or African American student performance was generally lower, according to scores on the NECAP and other tests given at Burlington High School such as the ACT/PLAN and the PSAT.

White students were more likely to be enrolled in the most rigorous courses in high school — honors and Advanced Placement courses — and less likely to be suspended. Asian students were also under represented in suspensions.

Black or African American students, meanwhile, represented about 13 percent of all students but 24 percent of out-of-school suspensions. Does that trend signal bias?

“Again, that’s something we have to dig into,” Collins said. Similar trends are systemic across the U.S. and it’s important to identify risk factors, have adequate social workers and school counselors and help correct behavior problems before they grow, she said.

Many of the trends in the report are similar to what’s taking place on the national level, Collins said. Now that the first report is complete, the school district can start working harder on solutions, she suggested.

“We’re on our way. We haven’t fixed things but we’re laying the foundation.”